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US Polished Imports Decline
Dec 25, 2019 8:53 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... The US
diamond trade continued to slow in October. Polished imports fell 38% to $1.45
billion for the month, marking the steepest year-on-year drop since 2009 and
the seventh consecutive month of decline, according to Rapaport records. Polished exports dropped 35% to $1.07 billion, government data showed.
| US Trade Data for October 2019 |
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Oct 2019 |
Year-on-year change |
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| Polished imports |
$1,448 |
-38% |
| Polished exports |
$1,066 |
-35% |
| Net polished imports |
$382 |
-45% |
| Rough imports |
$27 |
-8% |
| Rough exports |
$10 |
-72% |
| Net rough imports |
$16 |
2018: Deficit of $9M |
| Net diamond account |
$399 |
-42% |
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| Polished imports: volume |
699,520 carats |
-31% |
| Average price of polished imports |
$2,070/carat |
-9% |
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Jan-Oct 2019 |
Year-on-year change |
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| Polished imports |
$16,817 |
-16% |
| Polished exports |
$15,004 |
-10% |
| Net polished imports |
$1,813 |
-44% |
| Rough imports |
$289 |
-41% |
| Rough exports |
$255 |
-40% |
| Net rough imports |
$33 |
-51% |
| Net diamond account |
$1,847 |
-45% |
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| Polished imports: volume |
8.1 million carats |
-5% |
| Average price of polished imports |
$2,075/carat |
-11% |
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| All numbers in millions unless stated otherwise. |
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Source: US Commerce Department data; Rapaport archives
About the data: The US, the world’s largest diamond retail market, is
a net importer of polished. As such, net polished imports — representing
polished imports minus polished exports — will usually be a positive number. Net
rough imports — calculated as rough imports minus rough exports — will also
generally be in surplus. The nation has no operational diamond mines but has a
manufacturing sector, so normally ships more rough in than out. The net
diamond account is total rough and polished imports minus total exports. It
is the US’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates
by importing — and ultimately consuming — diamonds.
Image: The Empire State Building in New York. (Sam Valadi/Flickr)
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Tags:
Government, net diamond account, net polished imports, Net rough imports, new york, polished exports, polished imports, Rapaport News, rough exports, rough imports, trade data, US
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